City Of Lanterns

After a fairly uneventful overnight bus ride, we arrive in HoiAn. Driving over beautiful bridges where fishing boats bobbed in the water and the sun rose in the horizon is the scene I saw as I awoke. Luckily, my hostel had a bus pickup and they arrived right on time. As it was 6:30 am there was nothing much happening at the hostel. But we left our bags and had an amazing buffet breakfast with every kind of food you could imagine. Fruits, toast, noodles, rice, made to order eggs, and so much more. It may be one of the best breakies I've had on my trip! Afterwards I sat out by the pool enjoying the quiet and the sun. It wasn't long before the place picked up and I was glad I had a pool lounger. I relaxed the morning away, snoozing occasionally and running into old friends I'd met elsewhere. It was a lovely morning. After a quick lunch I wandered towards town and the tailor, that had been recommended to me, to see about dresses. Afterwards, I found my way into a market area where I was enticed into a small room with a curtain as a door for a back massage....I felt like pizza dough being kneaded hurridly. She offered to razor, yes razor, my heels with a straight blade (as in what they use to shave men's faces) but I politely declined. It was clear she was not a professional. After finding my way to a tailor factory and then escaping, I found myself in a shoe shop where I had a pair of sandles made for $14, leather and everything! A woman then led me to her "shop" for a foot rub but I ended up with her and her sister threading my armpits. For those of you who need a more detailed description, this is how it went: She called her sister who arrived to stand behind my chair and hold my arm up, and at some points pull my skin tight (remember this is all about the armpit). The woman then took a long piece of thread and somehow, by twisting it, was able to remove the hair. It pulls the hair up out of the hair shaft/follicle and than "plucks"it out. I don't know the science of it but it's really quite interesting to watch but very painful to experience! It's worth it though, no shaving for a month! Afterwards her sister convinced me to do my legs.....I was told it would take half an hour but in reality I sat there for an hour and a half and it was excruciating. I'm sure it looks great, and they told me it would help me find a husband but I'm sure there are easier ways! They thought it was so funny to tease me that they said they'd already gotten 5 kg of my hair out of my legs.....which of course would be impossible. I'm not sure I'll ever thread my legs again! Ouch! There's always a little lady waiting in the wings to take you to the next stall or shop but I managed to escape and found my way back to the tailor to put in my order!

I met Esther, a girl I'd met on the bus, for dinner and we chose a local Vietnemese restaurant next door which was delish! The next day I went with Esther to her own fittings where she was having a suit made. We wandered the markets and found the Japanese covered bridge before my fitting in the early evening. We found a little place for dinner and walked through the night market. All of HoiAn's old city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its a cute little village like city. The next day we were up early for a tour of Myson, a temple complex not unlike Angkor Wat. It is much smaller, though older, but was mostly destroyed by bombings during the war. It was first discovered by a French explorer. Unfortunately, the french also felt it necessary to take the heads from the statues, where they now live in Le Louvre. This complex of temples also started as Hindu but was converted to Buddhism. They are beautiful ruins surrounded by a green backdrop. Though sadly the jungle used to cover the temples it was so thick, most of it has been cut away. A few more fittings were scheduled for after our tour so we grabbed a quick burger at our hostel, which turned out to be microwaved yuk, before getting the shuttle to town. We found a lovely little local restaurant near the night market for dinner which had awesome reviews and enjoyed a great (and cheap) meal. Sadly, after 4 attempts, the shoes just weren't fitting or cut right, I argued for a discount and because there were customers outside, and because maybe she knew I was right, she gave me a full refund....so sad that I don't have my own custom made sandals. Esther had one more fitting and then we walked back in the pouring rain! Boo!

Our last day in HoiAn and Rachel and Andy had arrived! We chatted for a bit and then were back for some more fittings before meeting my favourite couple for lunch! We wandered around a bit and walked back to the hostel where I relaxed by the pool for the remainder of the day. That evening we stopped to pick up my dresses and the four of us went to a great restaurant with beer for less than 10¢.....I had something else! Haha It was delicious but it was late and everything was closed so we wandered back to the hostel where I showed off my new dresses before bed. Another goodbye with Rachel and Andy! An early bus awaits me to Hue the next morning!